K House, 2005

K House is one of the few houses designed by architect Mikiko Endo. The interior is accentuated with exposed concrete and plywood surfaces.

I have noticed that each work by Endo (e.g., Ko No Mo To and Hakone Art Loop) has a strong sense of mass even when sheet materials are dominant in the work. By using slabs of concrete along with wood, this becomes most evident in her design of K House.

Despite its boxy shapes, the details have a subtle femininity that gives the house a voluptuous presence. This small house looks ‘stronger’ than most of the buildings designed by Kengo Kuma, and looks ‘sexier’ than the new Tiffany Ginza. (Sorry, senpai!)